let's get right to our next guest, chris van hollen. nice talking to you. >> good morning, soledad. >> let's talk about the escalation in out and out fighting now between israel and the palestinian militants. there are now 100 terror sites, apparently, according to israel, that they are attacking, in response to rocket attacks that have come from the palestinians. what is your take on what's happening here right now and how likely it is that this will escalate into a full-scale ground war? >> well, hamas continues to rain rocket attacks into israel. israel, of course, as the right to defend itself. hamas has dedicated itself to the destruction of israel. they've never been willing to recognize the existence of the state of israel. so israel's taking actions, defensive actions, in this case, against the hamas military leader, to put an end to the strikes against israel. so this is a matter of israel exercising its right to self-defense. >> the president's in new york today. tomorrow, he's going to start those initial sort of face-to-face